SEQUIM — On a trail near the Dungeness Campground off Palo Alto Road, Stephen “Mike” Mason vanished one June day after he and his wife, Berwyn, parted ways.
Mike, who had a history of camping in the woods for extended periods, stayed while Berwyn returned home to Sequim.
That was June 20, 2006, and Mike hasn’t been heard from since.
On the third anniversary of that date, Mike’s family and friends hope only for some kind of resolution as they wonder how the experienced outdoorsman could have disappeared without a trace.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue team conducted a search in late June 2006, combing the forest around the Dungeness Campground.
Helicopters from Coast Guard Air Station in Port Angeles helped by sweeping up and down the river. A cache of untouched food and supplies was found, but there were no signs of Mike, who was then 52.
“He is not forgotten by those of us who care,” said Venae Money of Sequim, who knew Mike from working with him at the Sequim Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
“He would do anything for us older gals,” Money said. “He cooked Sunday breakfast . . . He hauled stuff upstairs. He’d clean up after bingo, and he made repairs in our office.”
“It hurts to not know where he is,” she said. “There is no closure.”
Little hope
Mike’s parents, Don and Sue Mason, hold out little hope of seeing him again, though they wish for some illumination of the mystery of his disappearance.
“At this point, I can’t believe he is alive. For three years, he has not called me on Mother’s Day,” Sue said from her home in Richland. Nor has Mike called his daughter Heather, 32, on her birthday — something he’d never forgotten to do.
Mike also has a son, Josh, who, like Heather, lives in Pasco, and three grandchildren.
“They need to put this to rest. We all do,” said Sue.
She added that Berwyn moved to Kennewick about two years ago, and the two women have since lost touch. Berwyn could not be reached for an interview.
Sue said her son was an avid camper and fisherman who knew how to navigate the woods and streams. She believes he wouldn’t have let his family wonder what became of him for this long.
“If anybody has any information about Mike – dead or alive — we would like to be called, collect,” Sue said. The Masons’ number is 509-943-4676.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict added that anyone with information about Mike should phone the department’s nonemergency line at 360-417-2259.
“We would be interested,” he said. “If there’s more information, we will study it.”
Occasionally with such cases, Benedict said, someone comes forward with clues that lead to closure.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@ peninsuladailynews.com.
